


The Gentle Dark

by ncfan



Series: Nan Elmoth [1]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 16:13:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/869462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncfan/pseuds/ncfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He despised the Sun and Moon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gentle Dark

He had dwelled beneath the stars for as long as he could remember, since their people were young and had just begun to learn to sing. Eöl had refused to follow the call to depart across the sea. He was as rooted to the land as were the trees, and he followed a lord who had gone missing beneath those same trees. Those who left without Elwë, later called Elu Thingol, were without loyalty to their lord, without loyalty to their kin they left behind in Ennor. Eöl felt no regret when they left, and he and those who remained were left without them.

The long years passed. Elu reappeared and established the kingdom of Eglador, later called Doriath, with Melian the Maia at his side. Eglador grew great and prosperous. Eöl grew great in smith-craft, and petitioned the King to live in Nan Elmoth, giving Elu the sword Anglachel as his price for the grant of the fiefdom. There he lived in solitude, beneath the stars and the dark trees of Nan Elmoth, where nothing grew beneath the branches and there was peace in silence.

Then, the Noldor came, and with them came the rising of the Moon and the Sun.

The Noldor called them _Rána_ and _Vása_. In the tongue of the Sindar, they were known as Ithil and Anor. They cast the world in harsh, unfriendly light, and dimmed the gleam of the stars Eöl had loved so much. The sight of them was hateful to his eyes, especially Anor, whose light and heat beat down on his back and banished all shadows from the lands beyond Nan Elmoth. He despised them as he despised the Noldor who had invaded Beleriand, spreading out ever-wider.

As the years wore on and Ennor became more accustomed to the light of these sibling orbs, Eöl ventured from Nan Elmoth in the light of day less and less often. He would travel by night, and then only in Ithil's waning, when at most a sliver of His light could be seen in the sky. Then, Eöl could almost imagine that he had returned to the days before these sibling orbs blighted the sky, when he could look up at the gentle dark skies, and see only stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Ennor—Middle Earth (in Sindarin); yes, I know that 'Endor' is a term also used for Middle-Earth, but when I hear the word 'Endor' I think of necromancer witches and Star Wars, not Lord of the Rings or The Silmarillion.


End file.
